Almodovar – Los Abrazos Rotos
The last show at night, the best choice, there is no interruption and you can watch it from the beginning to the end, usually in an empty theater.
While writing these few lines I am watching the trailer over and over, the movie is like an attempt of analyzing the motion picture’s narrations techniques by showing how far it is from real life, the “pelicula” is so stuffed with threads that are left hanging, that more than once you ask yourself why has that element been added if in the end it wasn’t rethrived, concluded. Life doesn’t give time to indulge in poetic details, although we love to think so, or at least that’s the expectation we have when the lights are switched off and the projector lights up, Almodovar on the other end, shows the pettiness of humanity in front of the tragedy, the drama never really explodes, it’s subdued throughout the whole film, giving the impression that it’s just part of it, it’s with us.
The photography is connotated by a sort of flatness, emphasized by the use of huge paintings as backgrounds as well as selectiveley focused scenes and close ups, giving the idea of a suspended reality.
I will watch it again analizing it scene by scene, in it’s framing qualities. What I admire of this movie is its humbleness the role given to the “palabra”; the voice of Penelope Cruz, we loved and admired in many productions, resonate at its best in Spanish, as well as her unstable walking with high heels on cobbled paved streets.
The system used is so far from realism that only after, when we are digesting it we appreciate the employment of wigs in the movie, the idea of interchangeable identities, Almodovar suggests a reflection on the condition of modern men, concealed with a sense of acceptance, where the mask is a necessity, the search of a new perspective, through an alias is one of the systems utilized to survive in this world.
ARCHIVE – Cowboys and Photojournalists
Kenneth Jarecke gives a clear idea of the future of photography, although he is talking about photojournalism, his point can be applied to any field of the photographic world.
the whole article tries to answer a few questions:
“Is photojournalism dying? it’s golden era is gone, what can be the next step?”
the analogy with the cowboy mithology is hitting the target, a whole nation’s identity is based on a lifestyle that did not last more than 20 years.
People are still looking at the iconic identity of the photojournalist that was a direct product of magazines like LIFE and LOOK that did not last a lot longer than the cowboy’s lifestyle.
Click here to read the article on the New York Times website